Luke Humphries sends statement to Luke Littler

Hello and welcome to Telegraph Sport’s live, leg-by-leg coverage of Luke Humphries v Ted Evetts in the PDC World Championship. Humphries, the 2024 champion and world No2, is the man most likely to stop Luke Littler retaining his title. If all goes to plan – and in line with the rankings – they will meet in the final on 3 January.

For now, Humphries just wants avoid the banana skin that is the first round at Ally Pally. There’s already been one huge shock, with the No12 seed Ross Smith losing to Swedish debutant Andreas Harryson last night despite averaging almost 97. But it’s hard to see anything other than a comfortable win for Humphries against Evetts, who was world youth champion in 2021 but is now ranked No131 in the world.

Humphries had a strong record at Ally Pally even before he took a shortcut to greatness in the winter of 2023. He won the title that Christmas, beating 17-year-old Littler 7-4 in an epic final, but his defence a year ago was a disappointment. Humphries was beaten 4-1 in the last 16 by Peter Wright, who rolled back the years with a clinical performance on the doubles.

So far, 2025 has been a good rather than great year for Humphries. He won the Premier League and the Masters, but lost his world No1 ranking to an increasingly dominant Littler and was beaten in three major finals at the back end of the season. But if he triumphs at Ally Pally for the second time, all that will be forgotten.

The players will be on the oche around 9.30pm.